Charles Zarrill
In Biggles Takes Charge, Charles Zarrill was the common name adopted by Prince Karl of Moldavia who, while on the run from assassins, was befriended by Algy during a chance encounter at the Chateau Grandbulon in La Sologne. Charles was the cousin of Boris Zarrill, the heir to the throne of Moldavia. Charles' mother had fled Moldavia during a revolution around early 1940. Accompanied by a servant named Yakoff, she had made her way across the Black Sea to Turkey and thence to Paris where Charles was born. Later the family had gone to live with friends in England. When Charles' mother died (presumably after the end of World War Two), Charles and Yakoff returned to Paris, hoping to reunite with the rest of the family and specifically to learn the whereabouts of Boris Zarrill. They stayed at the Hotel Pont-Royal for a while but then had to move hurriedly when Yakoff spotted two men staking out the hotel whom he identified as professional assassins. One was Serge Prutski, a Moldavian ex-convict and one of the original leaders of the revolution. The other, Charles later learnt, was Erich von Stalhein. Both were, at that time, Russian secret agents. Charles and Yakoff moved to the Hotel St James but soon after Yakoff was knocked down by a car in what Charles believed was a planned murder. Again Charles spotted Prutski and von Stalhein outside his hotel. Knowing his hotel had an internal link to another hotel, he evaded his pursuers by running through the connecting buildings and exiting on a parallel street. He then used his remaining meagre funds to buy a second-hand bicycle and proceeded to the Chateau Grandbulon, one of two places he knew were haunts of Boris Zarrill (the other was Monte Carlo). At the chateau, Charles met and was befriended by Algy who had been benighted in the chateau by a snow storm. Prutski and von Stalhein also called at the chateau but Algy hid Charles and managed to convince them that he knew nothing and was just a chance visitor at the chateau. Algy took Charles next to Monte Carlo where they called at Boris' house, the Villa Clement. There they found Prutski and von Stalhein waiting. Prutski wanted to shoot Charles but was thwarted by the prompt arrival of Marcel Brissac and Biggles, who had turned up in response to a call for help which Algy had sent. At the villa, Charles met Madame Cavalli, Boris' housekeeper. She passed him a letter from Boris which gave instructions on how to contact him at the Chateau Grandbulon. The party now departed for La Sologne where they made contact with Boris. Again, von Stalhein and his men followed close behind but again Biggles and his friends evaded them and escaped to Paris where they regrouped to discuss the next step. In Paris, Boris explained that the reason assassins had been sent after him and Charles was two-fold. They wanted first of all to eliminate the royal family of Moldavia which posed a political threat. But they also hoped to discover the secret of the location of the crown jewels of Moldavia which had been hidden at the beginning of the revolution. Boris intended to return to Moldavia to recover the jewels. Marcel was able to borrow a Nord Noroit amphibian which was suitable for the task and this allowed Biggles to put together a plan for the operation. At first Biggles was reluctant to take Charles along because of his youth but he relented when Boris strongly urged that his cousin be included. The party departed Cyprus and transited through Lebanon and Turkey and then across the Black Sea towards Zogoreb, the location of the lakeside royal hunting lodge where the jewels had been hidden. After the Nord Noroit touched down at the lake, Charles and Boris joined Biggles' shore party to recover the jewels. At a set of old stables, they met Karol Levescu, one of old retainers of the royal family. Levescu had helped hide the jewels and fetched them for Boris. Again, they found von Stalhein closing in on them and again they evaded him, escaping from Moldavia with the jewels. The jewels were subsequently sold at an auction in Paris and raised a vast sum of money, allowing Charles and Boris to settle in Australia. Category:People Category:Biggles characters Category:Air Police era characters